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Comfort sucking night and day

I am a mother of a 5 month old who we recently moved to his own crib (after sleeping in our room in a bassinet). Before we moved him, he was nursing quite frequently at night. I did not mind this but it seems that sleeping close to me became more stimulating and was keeping him awake. Now that he is moved, he sleeps a lot better and I get up to nurse him 2 or 3 times a night.

Because of this he is now wanting to comfort nurse a lot more during the daytime. I have not minded this either, however, most of the time I am not able to get him to sleep anywhere except if he is comfort nursing. My concern is that he is not getting that great of sleep and he seems to be ultra-sensitive to being overtired. My husband has also been having a difficult time consoling him now since he won't accept any other means of sucking. This is becoming exhausting and we do not know what the next step should be. I do not want to deny my son the comfort that he needs but we are running out of soothing options and energy!

Re: Comfort sucking night and day

I hope it helps to hear that your baby is completely normal.
Now that he has transitioned out of the newborn phase and into being an alert distracted baby he is like a little scientist, trying to make sense out of his environment, both internal and external.
His internal hard wiring tells him " Stay safe. Stay close to mamma."
His internal instincts prompt him to cry out if the warmth and safety of mamma's body are not nearby.
that is normal.
i loved my sling for this very reason. i wore my lo's in a cloth ring style sling and for me that made mothering so much easier and rewarding. my lo could nurse at leisure while I went about my daily activities.
however, some mothers find it helpful to be diligent about sitting down and nursing every 2-3 hours during the day and if the lo still wants to suck after a good strong feeding,
a few minutes on the pacifier does the trick.

Re: Comfort sucking night and day

The daytime nursing may not be comfort nursing. When your baby was nursing frequently overnight, he was probably taking in a lot of his calories at night. Now he needs to get those calories during the day, instead, and that translates to more nursing during the day.

Since you just made a very big transition in terms of your baby's feeding and sleeping patterns, I suggest just rolling with this for a while.

Re: Comfort sucking night and day

Thanks to both of you for your thoughts! At this point I am sure that he is comfort sucking because he is not swallowing and it is not rhythmic sucking (just the fluttery quick sucks with no gulps). I've also found that if I let him fall asleep during the day while sucking and try to put him down, that's when he whimpers or cries and wakes up. If I am able to get him to sleep when he is not nursing I am able to put him down and he'll sleep without waking up. It's just hard to get him to sleep without the nursing.

I have a sling that I use and I love it! That has been such a great thing for my babe and me. I am able to do a lot of things around the house and he is able to nurse and be comforted throughout the day without much fussing or crying. I will just keep doing what I am and trust that by the time I go back to work he will be a little more mature. You are right about the big transition. This was pretty recent and he may just need this to help him through it.

Re: Comfort sucking night and day

Is there a reason why you're uneasy about nursing to sleep? I've nursed both my kids to sleep- the first for 3 years, and the second is still going strong at age 2. It's much easier to get a kid to sleep with nursing than with any other technique. And they eventually do grow out of it, I promise!